


Pull the Pin

by stellarmeadow



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-12
Updated: 2012-02-12
Packaged: 2017-10-31 00:13:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/337766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarmeadow/pseuds/stellarmeadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when Steve and Danny realize one of their team may not be playing for their side?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was kind of tough to write, but I am glad to have it out of my brain! Huge thank yous to [celli](http://archiveofourown.org/users/celli/pseuds/celli), [Cori Lannam](http://archiveofourown.org/users/corilannam/pseuds/Cori%20Lannam) and [mohinikapuahi](http://archiveofourown.org/users/mohinikapuahi/pseuds/mohinikapuahi) for beta work and generally assuring me that it didn't suck. :) 
> 
> **PLEASE NOTE that I intentionally did not use archive warnings** , but I did intentionally check F/M as well as M/M. While there is no rape, incest, underage sex, mpreg, or anything like that, if you are at all concerned about encountering any of your squicks/triggers, please, please read the additional notes at the end of the fic. If you like surprises and aren't too worried, read on!

Steve woke slowly, groping around on the bed, frowning his way fully out of sleep when he realized Danny wasn't there. The first faint rays of the sun were only just starting to lighten the room, and Danny was not exactly an early riser.

He heard a noise from downstairs and sat up, looking towards the door. Pulling his gun quietly out of the nightstand, Steve crept carefully out into the hall and down the stairs. There was a light on in the dining room. He assumed it was Danny, but better safe than sorry, so he peered silently around the corner, gun in hand, just in case.

Danny was sitting at the table, papers spread out in front of him, one hand threaded through his hair, holding up his head. The way he was biting at his lower lip made Steve want to drag him back upstairs to bed, but the frown he was wearing made it clear that wasn't happening. "What's wrong?"

If he hadn't been sure something was wrong, the way Danny jumped at Steve's voice would've told him. "Hey," Danny said, flipping the paper he was reading over and leaning back in the chair. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Sun's up," Steve said, laying his gun on the sideboard and taking the chair closest to Danny. "More or less," he added, nodding at the window, where you could almost see the beach in the faint light. "And that doesn't answer my question."

"Why does anything have to be wrong?"

"It doesn't," Steve said. "But it is. Spill."

Danny's sigh was bone-weary. "Okay, first of all, you need to promise me that you won't go off and pull some crazy ninja revenge shit, especially before we actually know anything."

"What? When have I ever--"

"When have you--? Do you really want an answer to that?"

Steve opened his mouth, then closed it. "Fine. No crazy ninja revenge shit."

"Good. Second, just so we're clear, I wasn't keeping anything from you. I just wanted to have my facts straight before I said anything."

This was sounding worse by the second. "Okay, you need to start talking before I convince myself someone's dying."

"I have this friend at DHS," Danny said slowly, as if he was walking through a field of verbal landmines. "And when the Governor decided to gift us with Lori, I sent him an email, just to see if he might have heard of her, if there was anything we should know that wasn't in her files."

"I talked to some people there, too," Steve said, his brow pulling together. "No one really knew her except by reputation, but her reputation lived up to her file."

"Exactly," Danny said. "Didn't you wonder why a rising star at DHS would suddenly be packed off to Hawaii and completely out of the department? I mean, does that not seem strange to you?"

"I'm here," Steve said. "You're here. We're both pretty damn good at our jobs."

Danny shook his head. "Yes, but this is your home. And this is Grace's home. We have reasons to be here. She has," Danny held up the stack of papers, "a list of accolades and commendations that suddenly stop cold with a resignation."

Steve frowned at the papers, then at Danny's face. "People quit their jobs for all kinds of reasons," he said, trying to reason through it.

"Yeah, I thought the same thing. But then my friend called me yesterday morning. From an untraceable cell phone."

Rubbing at the spot between his eyes that was starting to hurt, Steve thought about that for a second. "Whatever he had to tell you was so bad he couldn't even risk it being traced?"

"He was worried he'd get caught telling things that no one was supposed to know," Danny said.

"So, what, then?" Steve asked. "Was she some sort of super-secret DHS assassin?"

"Not exactly," Danny said, putting the papers back down. "There were rumors that she was caught poking her nose into places she wasn't supposed to be looking. Nothing concrete," he added, "but my friend said that after a few of the rumors, she suddenly quit and moved as far away as she could get before her desk was even cold."

Steve shrugged. "They're just rumors. That doesn't necessarily mean anything."

"They were," Danny said. "Until two of the files she was rumored to be nosing around resulted in dead CIA agents."

"They think she was spying?"

"They didn't have enough to go on, and they wanted to plug the leak just in case. But they've opened a very quiet, very hidden investigation that my friend managed to get me very bad copies of. At least I assume they're from him--he didn't dare put a name on them. They were on my doorstep when I went by the apartment last night, disguised as a mailing from a catalog company. I only opened it because of something he'd said on the phone, and these," Danny said, waving a hand at the papers, "were in there."

Steve closed his eyes. "So you're telling me we've been worrying that she's spying for the Governor, and she may actually be spying for another country?"

"Oh no. Another country would be something we could deal with rationally."

Steve scrunched up his face before opening his eyes. "You realize you're not making any sense."

Danny picked up two of the papers and put them on the table side by side in front of Steve. He looked at them, his eyes zeroing in on the two words that always pulled in his laser focus. "Wo Fat," he said, the words scraping the back of his throat on the way out.

"Both agents were assigned to cases involving Wo Fat."

"And she came here. And the governor couldn't jump on my first mistake fast enough to shove her on our team."

"You think this means--"

"--that the new governor is as corrupt as the last one? You didn't consider it?"

Danny gave a half shrug. "I did, but I was kind of hoping it was just my natural paranoia."

"It's still possible," Steve said, but even to his own ears he didn't sound as if he believed it.

"Anything is _possible_ ," Danny replied. "But likely?"

Steve pushed the papers away a little, as if that might help him gain some distance. "We don't have enough information to do anything," he said. "And we can't exactly go to DHS or the CIA and offer to help when we're not supposed to know about the hush-hush investigation. Maybe I could call my CIA contacts--"

"No, no!" Danny grabbed Steve's wrist as if he expected him to jump for the phone. "The number of people who know about this is miniscule. If you talk to anyone, it's going to take them all of half a second to know where the information came from."

"Okay, I won't call them," Steve said, and Danny's grip relaxed, but stayed loosely around Steve's wrist. "We have to do something, though."

"We do what we have to do," Danny said. "We keep her close. And we watch."

Steve took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. "I was kind of hoping we could at least trust our team for a while, if nothing else," he said, suddenly tired.

"We can," Danny said, his thumb rubbing along the side of Steve's wrist. "Chin and Kono."

"We can't get them involved."

"Yes, we can. We're not in this alone--think how much danger they'll be in if they don't know. Do you want to be responsible for something happening to them just because you couldn't share secrets?"

It was a low blow, but it was true, and he'd more than given Danny past reasons enough to need to fire it. "You're right," Steve agreed reluctantly. "We need to get them away from HQ and tell them, though. If she's working for Wo Fat, we have to assume that she may have planted surveillance equipment anywhere." Steve's eyes widened. "Danny, the house! What if she--

"Calm down. That's why I have this," Danny said, holding up a little black box Steve hadn't noticed on the table. A green light was blinking away on the top. "I went to see Toast yesterday to get him to do some very stealthy investigating, and mentioned there might be a bug problem, and he gave me this scrambler. If she has anything audio or video in here, all it's giving her right now is white noise." Danny grinned. "She probably thinks the ocean got loud."

Steve let his shoulders drop from up around his ears. "Too much use and that will start to look suspicious."

"I'm going to bring Toast over to sweep the house later today. I don't think we could get him into HQ without making some explanations, so we're going to have to assume it's not safe to talk there and be careful how we use the box."

"The Camaro--"

"He checked it yesterday when I was out there and it's clean for now. No bugs, no trackers, other than the one we put in after it was stolen."

"She could still use that--"

"Which is why he made it 'malfunction,'" Danny said with a grin.

Steve couldn't help but grin back. "I think you missed your calling," Steve said. "You'd make a pretty good spy."

"Nah, I'm terrible at hiding like that," Danny said, shaking his head. "But thank you. I think."

Steve laughed. "So..." he said, turning his hand where Danny still held on to grasp Danny's wrist, "since we're up, and we don't have to be at work for a while...I suppose we should find something to do."

"You are not even a little subtle, you know that, right?"

"I wasn't trying to be," Steve said, standing up and pulling Danny with him. "In fact, grab that thing," Steve added, pointing at the scrambler, "and watch how unsubtle I can be."

He put the files out of his mind and focused on Danny's laughter as Steve dragged him upstairs.

***

"Morning."

Lori's voice hadn't changed since the day before, her smile didn't look any different, but Steve couldn't help feeling it was all a little forced as he watched her breeze into the bullpen. "Morning," he returned, realizing the rest of the team had done so only after Danny's foot nudged his, the move hidden by the computer table.

"Everything okay?" she asked her smile disappearing.

"Fine," Steve said. "Just ready to get started on this case."

She stepped up to the table, looking appropriately contrite. "Sorry, I had trouble getting my car started this morning."

Steve nodded as if that sounded completely true, wondering the whole time if she'd been meeting with the governor, or with Wo Fat. Or maybe stopping to plant bugs in his house or the truck or the Camaro. "Chin's cousin is a great mechanic," Steve said. "I'm sure he'd cut you a deal."

"It's okay," she said quickly, shaking her head. "The starter just needs to be replaced. I can do that this weekend."

"Really? You know how to replace a starter?" Steve struggled to keep his voice from venturing into sarcasm. "That's impressive."

She shrugged. "My dad let me work on cars with him when I was growing up."

"You are just _full_ of surprises." Another kick from Danny had Steve noticing the odd looks Chin and Kono were giving him. "Maybe you can switch gears to your profiling talents and help us figure out where these bank robbers are likely to strike next," Steve said as blandly as he could, turning his attention to the screen.

He only half-listened as Chin and Kono did their double-team rundown of the three robberies so far--enough money and publicity involved that the governor had called in 5-0 in hopes of preventing a fourth. _Or possibly because the robbers were encroaching on something and Wo Fat wanted them stopped_ , he thought darkly.

Lori's guesses on what their next moves would be matched up to some of Steve's initial assessment, though he'd gone a little farther and been able to hatch the start of a plan to bait the robbers. He laid out his idea, adding in components from the rest of the team and trying to treat Lori the same as always when she offered the occasional comment.

Once the plan was fleshed out, he turned to her. "The three buildings they hit were built in the sixties, so the plans aren't online. We'll need to get them from the DPP archives to see if we can figure out how they got in. Lori, go down the street and track them down and get copies."

He could see Chin was about to offer the logical 'I can do that faster'--in more polite terms, but still--and cut him off. "Chin, I need you to track down the weird radio disturbances noted in the areas of the robberies around the time they took place. See if you can track it to a specific frequency. Maybe they're using comms that we can tap into."

Chin nodded, and Steve gave Kono her marching orders. "Danny and I are going to follow up with two of the witnesses," Steve added. Chin and Kono turned and headed for their offices, but Steve noticed Lori was still standing there. "Is there a problem?" Steve asked, glad for the excuse to be abrupt.

"No, I was just thinking that my skills might be more helpful with the witnesses."

"Danny's been interviewing suspects and witnesses since before you finished your degree. I think we can handle it."

She swallowed and nodded, turning on her heel and marching out without another word. When she was completely out of sight, Danny clucked at Steve. "Way to act normal."

Steve gave him a quelling look, hoping he'd remember the chance of recording devices, but Danny tapped his pocket, where Steve could just make out a scrambling box-shaped bulge. "Cameras?" Steve asked, blocking his face from view of all the security ones he knew were officially installed.

"Quick and quiet," Danny said, blocking his own face from the camera view as well. "Just long enough for a reminder that if you keep acting like that, she's going to know we're onto her, and we'll get nowhere."

"Danny--"

But Danny had reached into his pocket to turn off the device, and Steve had to halt his rant. "That better not become a habitual way of shutting me up," he muttered.

"I have _much_ more effective and enjoyable ways of doing that," Danny said, his voice so low that Steve almost missed it.

"Okay, then," Steve said, and cleared his throat while he adjusted his cargo pants and his focus. They needed a plan for the Lori situation. "I think we need a team coffee break." At Danny's frown, Steve looked hard at him, willing him to understand. "Just to make sure all four of us are up to speed. Maybe figure out what to do about...the _case_."

Danny blinked a few times, then nodded. "Right. You get Chin. I'll get Kono."

Two minutes later, Steve and Danny were leading a rather confused Chin and Kono out of the building and around the corner to Caffe Grazie. The restaurant was just emptying out from the breakfast crowd, and they were huddled over coffee at a round table in the far corner of the lanai in minutes.

Steve let Danny lay out what he knew only after he turned on the scrambler, while Steve tried not to grip his coffee cup the point of destroying it. When Danny was done, Kono was the first to speak. "Let me get her alone in the interrogation room," she said, cracking her knuckles. "We'll find out everything we need to know in under five minutes."

Her response made him smile, and let him loosen his grip on his cup a little. "As much as I'd like to see that," Steve said, "we have to be a little more...subtle."

"So what's the plan?" Chin asked.

"Right now we're just making sure we know what's safe," Steve said. "Danny and I are going to see Toast while we're supposed to be talking with the witnesses. We'll take him to the house to sweep it for bugs."

"What about HQ?" Chin asked.

Steve shook his head. "We have to assume we're being monitored when we're there. The scrambler," he said, pointing at the box, "counteracts listening devices, but we have to be careful how and when we use it, and we have our own cameras in HQ that we can't interfere with." He leaned in, elbows on the table. "Unless we're somewhere we know we're safe, with that on, we assume we have to watch every word and every move."

"You don't really think she's got listening devices here, do you?" Kono asked.

"No," Danny replied, "but none of you have had your phones checked yet. Toast said she could've hacked them to hear everything we say, even when we're not on them. The fact that mine is clean is a good sign, but he's going to check Steve's today, and then we need to find a way to get yours to him so he can make a couple of modifications as well to prevent it."

"We can come by the house while you're there with him," Chin suggested.

Danny looked at Steve, who nodded. "Think of a good reason to be out of touch," Steve said to Chin and Kono. "This is the best chance we've had to catch Wo Fat in a while, and I don't want to blow it by letting her know we're onto her."

Kono sighed, fixing Steve with a smirk. "I still say you should let me beat it out of her, boss."

Steve couldn't help but laugh, which he knew was her intent. "Let's try being a little more subtle first, but if it doesn't work, you get first crack at her, okay?" At her nod, Steve finished off his coffee and stood. "All right, you two need to get back to HQ before she does, and Danny and I need to go see our 'witnesses.'" He fixed them with a look. "Remember, you have no way of knowing when someone might be listening anywhere, at least until we have your phones checked."

"Got it," they said in unison.

"Okay, we'll see you at the house in 2 hours--will that be enough time to figure out an excuse?"

"I think a new witness is about to appear out of nowhere in about an hour and a half," Chin said.

Steve smiled. "Good. And guys..." Steve looked away for a second before looking back at them. "Thanks."

***

Toast was, predictably, staring at his computer in a way Steve assumed eventually solved all the questions of the universe. To Steve it just looked like the guy was stoned, but he couldn't argue with Toast's results. Or his loyalty.

He did, however, notice them as they approached, which was unusual. He had his headphones on his neck before they'd even reached the table that operated as his desk. "Jersey," he said, nodding. "And McHale."

Steve frowned. "McHale?"

"You know, McGarrett, McHale's Navy...? Get it?"

Steve continued to frown, adding a raised eyebrow.

"I'll keep working on a nickname," Toast said, and Steve smothered a grin. "I've been too busy setting you guys up." He pulled his headphones off completely, laying them beside the laptop before he stood. "I have gifts for you," he said, picking up a plastic ABC store bag and handing it to Danny. "These are some burners, just in case. You never know when you might need them."

Danny nodded his thanks. "Are you saying you can't do anything about our phones?"

"Well, I can do the same thing to his as I did yours," Toast said, nodding at Steve and holding out his hand, "and it'll be almost impossible to mess with them."

"Almost impossible?" Steve asked, handing his phone over.

"Hey, new tech is coming out all the time, and if she gets her hands on the phones there are ways around what I do, but if you keep your phones on you and don't let her near them, you're safe."

Danny shook his head. "That's, uh, comforting?"

"What can I say, even I'm not God."

"So what else do you have for us?" Danny asked.

Toast hooked a cord from his laptop into Steve's phone before he moved to another laptop sitting next to it. "Okay, I set up the GPS on Jersey's car so it'll look like you're somewhere else--let me have your phone," he said, holding a hand out to Danny.

Danny held out the phone and Toast plugged it into this laptop. "I'm putting an app on both of them that will let you fake the GPS signal. So, like, if you're out here, you can have it say you're getting a shave ice in Maui...though come to think of it, you might want to stick to Oahu--Maui might give it away."

"So what if one of us needs to actually find the car?" Steve asked.

"Oh, the app will let you do that, too. Only your phones or my computers can track the actual location. Anyone else using normal GPS locators will get whatever you want them to get. And the best part?" He grinned at them, but said nothing else.

"What's the best part?" Danny asks finally.

His grin grew wider. "So glad you asked! The best part is that most normal methods to disable a GPS tracker? This little baby will make the tracker look like it stopped, but it keeps working. I'll just need to make a slight adjustment on the tracker to rewire the power with a secondary source." He looked at Steve. "I've set it up for your truck, too, so I'll need to rewire that."

Steve stared at him. "How did you get the GPS info for my truck?"

"Dude." Toast's look made Steve feel like a five-year-old with the wrong answer in kindergarten. "Please." He shook his head. "Anyway, when can I see your truck?"

Steve sighed. "It's at my house. We'll take you there now if you're ready."

Toast checked each laptop, punching a few keys before disconnecting both phones and handing them back to Steve and Danny. "All set," he said, picking up one of the laptops and a large duffel bag. "Oh, and I set the GPS on the phone to a failsafe, too. It'll keep tracking unless it's completely destroyed."

"Our own personal Q," Danny said. "I feel like James Bond." He bumped against Steve's arm and gave him a grin.

Steve couldn't help but smile back. "Let's go, 007."

***

After a drive spent mostly listening to Toast show Danny how his computer could make the Camaro look as if they were driving it through various European cities instead of Kahekilli Highway, they arrived at Steve's house. Steve watched as Toast laid out equipment on the dining room table. Some of it looked vaguely familiar, some not so much, and one of them seemed to have a coat hanger as a central part of the device, but they all seemed to do what Toast wanted them to do.

He scanned the house top to bottom for any sign of video or audio devices, and Steve held his breath until Toast pronounced the house clean. It meant Lori likely had no idea that he and Danny were together, which gave Wo Fat no leverage to use Danny against him.

Toast made them both try the bug scanner before having them put it somewhere it wouldn't be easily found--Steve's suggestion that they put it in the Camaro was shot down when Danny said Lori had a better inventory of its contents than Danny did.

"What the hell is she doing snooping around the trunk?" Steve asked.

Danny looked at him. "I wondered the same thing at the time, but are you seriously asking that question after all this?"

"Right. Sorry."

Toast cleared his throat. "If you're done, can I show you the modifications to the alarm?" They watched him enter an extra code after the alarm code. "If you just enter your regular code without that, it'll send an alert to your phones, Chin and Kono's phones, and the burners. The alarm will look like it just disarmed normally, but everyone on your team will know something's up. So don't forget and then...do something that you don't want someone to find you in the middle of," he said, turning a little pink.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Steve said, giving Toast his best 'I am a SEAL and I will kill you,' look.

"Right, Sammy."

Steve blinked at him a few times. "Sammy?"

"Sammy the Seal?" At Steve's steely glare, Toast cleared his throat again. "Okay, so not that one. Anyway, just remember to enter the extra code, right?"

"Got it," Danny said, elbowing Steve none-too-gently in the bicep.

"Got it," Steve said.

They watched from inside as Toast went out to the truck and fixed the GPS. "What do you think he meant," Steve asked, still watching Toast work through the window, "about something we don't want someone to find us in the middle of?"

"I'm sure he was talking about your propensity to strip naked and dance to 'Don't Worry, Be Happy,'" Danny deadpanned.

"I'm sorry, that sounds a lot more like something you would do, Danno."

He glanced over and saw the corner of Danny's mouth lift. "Are you saying that's your Christmas wish, babe? Because I'm not entirely opposed to the stripping naked and dancing, but I do have musical standards."

Steve found himself rapidly blinking again. "Can I get a list of approved songs?" he asked.

Toast's return kept Danny from answering. He'd just stepped inside when Kono's car pulled up and she and Chin got out.

"Lori's back from DPP," Chin said as they walked into the house. "She's trying to figure out how the burglars got in and out of the buildings. She was also very interested in knowing where you were and when you'd be back," Chin said, pointing at Steve. "Which makes so much more sense now--I just always figured she had a thing for you and wanted to keep tabs."

Steve thought he might develop an eye twitch with all the rapid blinking he'd been doing. "You thought she had a thing for me?"

"Uh...yeah," Chin said, looking at Steve with disbelief.

"I gotta go with him on that one boss," Kono said. "She practically looks like she's mooning over you. Worse than you over Da--" Chin elbowed her, and Kono said, "uh, ever get from any other person."

Steve shook his head, frowning at the two of them. "She does not moon over me."

"Did you see the way she jumped out of the chopper to hug you in North Korea?" Chin asked.

Carefully not looking at Danny, mindful of the small argument after North Korea that had caused that Steve had chalked up to Danny being worried about him, Steve shrugged. "She was relieved."

Chin raised an eyebrow. "Does that explain why she was questioning me about your relationship status the first time we went on a case."

"She _what_?" Danny yelled.

Steve lightly stepped on Danny's foot until he stopped looking as though he was vibrating. "I'm sure she was just trying to figure out the boss."

"She was trying to figure out if she could get _in_ with the boss. Creeped me out, brah."

Steve could feel Danny starting to vibrate again and pressed down on his foot a little harder. "What did you tell her?"

"I hinted that I wasn't comfortable with the line of questioning," Chin said. "But I didn't tell her that you were--"

Kono's cough covered whatever Chin's next words were, her hand hitting Chin on the arm at the same time. "Sorry, cuz," she said, a few follow up coughs sounding even more fake than the first.

"No problem," Chin said, turning his attention to Toast. "You need our phones?"

Steve was still puzzling over the conversation as he watched Toast hook Chin and Kono's phones up to his laptop and make the adjustments to them. Danny gave them the burners and they headed back to the office with a reminder that Steve and Danny had better show up as soon as they had Toast home if they wanted to keep up the pretense of witness interviews.

They followed Toast around while he made a few more modifications in the house, but Steve was preoccupied over the comments from Chin and Kono. It wasn't until Toast got a phone call in the back of the car on the way to Ka'a'awa Valley, however, that Danny tapped Steve on the arm. "You okay?"

Steve nodded and said, shortly, "Later."

***

They'd dropped Toast off with thanks and a bucket of Dum Dums and were on their way back to the city before Danny went back to their aborted conversation. "So what's eating you?"

"Do you think Chin and Kono know about...us?"

Danny laughed. "Do I think Chin and Kono--seriously? You're asking me this seriously?"

"Yes, Danny, I'm asking this seriously," Steve said, a little annoyed as he divided his attention between the road and Danny.

"Babe, if Chin and Kono didn't know about us, I would say it's time to be looking for better detectives to partner with."

Steve frowned at Danny for an extra second before looking back at the road. "But how...I mean...it's not like we're that obvious."

And really, Danny's laughter was bordering on offensive. " _You_ , my friend, are as subtle as an anvil."

It was more than Steve could take, and he swerved off into the grass, standing on the brakes. "What do I do?" he demanded.

"Jesus, are you trying to kill me?" Danny asked, his hand engaged in a death grip on his seat belt.

"What do I do?"

Danny was staring at him as if he'd grown an extra eye. "Why? What's the big deal?"

"Danny, what do I do that gives us away?"

"For fuck's sake, Steven, have you even noticed how you look at me? You think I just up and kissed you one day on a whim with no idea whether it would work? I'm not that impulsive; I generally like to have an idea how that kind of thing's going to go, especially with my boss."

_My boss?_ "Are you saying you've slept with other bosses?"

"What? No, I am not saying that. I'm not normally that stupid. And that is not even remotely related to what we are talking about right now, okay? You wanted to know what you do? You look, you touch, you worry--"

"I worry about everybody."

"Oh, really? Because I don't hear a roll call every time we get shot at. I hear 'Danny!'"

Steve thought back, suddenly recalling in horror the number of times he'd done just that. Not that he wasn't worried about the others, but it wasn't the same as that immediate need to know if Danny was still with him that drove everything else out of his head. He just hadn't realized how obvious it was. "Fuck."

"Hey," Danny said, his voice gentler as his hand landed on Steve's shoulder. "Does it really bother you that much that they know? They're our friends, it's not like they're going to tell anyone."

"It's not that--well, not entirely," Steve said. "I mean, I don't want them to say anything, but I know they won't."

Danny's hand fell away. "So you're ashamed of me, then?"

Something in his tone broke through Steve's fog. "What?" Steve said, meeting Danny's eyes. "No! That's not it at all, it's just..." He ran a hand through his hair, closing his eyes for a moment. "Wo Fat," he said in a low voice, opening his eyes and searching Danny's once more, willing him to get it. "If I'm that obvious...Danny...I don't want him coming after you to get to me."

"That's what this is about?" Danny said, incredulous. "You have me thinking you're some closet closet-case, and it's just because you're worried that _this_ ," he waved a hand between the two of them, "might make him come after me?"

"Oh, well, excuse me if I care if something happens to you. I'll try not to do it again."

"No, wait," Danny said, a trace of amusement in his voice as his hand went back to Steve's shoulder. "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that all of us on the team are a target, babe. Us being together doesn't make a difference, not in that way."

"Yeah, but Danny, if he knows, you'll be first in line."

Danny laughed. "If he'd been watching us that closely, I'd have been first in line from the start."

Steve remembered the first time they'd gone to interview a suspect, and Doran had shot Danny. Even then, his first instinct had been to yell for Danny before he went after the guy who held the key to his father's murder. "Fair enough," Steve said, letting his shoulders relax just a little.

"So now that we have that out of the way, can we get back on the road, before all our hard work comes to naught when Spy Barbie realizes we lied about being off taking witness statements?"

Steve put the car back in gear and pulled back out onto the road, speeding to make up for lost time. "'Spy Barbie'?" he said, giving Danny a sideways glance.

"I'm pissed. It makes it easier to be nice to her face if I can be snarky behind her back. So sue me."

"Spy Barbie it is then," Steve said, hitting the gas harder.

***


	2. Chapter 2

They were a few miles out from HQ when Steve realized Danny had been quieter than usual. Not the 'I'm listening to your horrible music to try to decipher why you like it' kind of quiet, either. The kind that usually preceded something Steve wasn't going to like.

"What's up?" Steve said, glancing over at Danny.

"What?"

"You're quiet."

Danny scoffed. "Just because I'm quiet doesn't mean there's something up."

"When you're asleep, _maybe_ ," Steve said, "and only maybe."

"Are you saying I talk a lot?"

"If by a lot you mean three minutes of silence makes me want to check for a pulse, then yes. So. I repeat. What's up?"

With a sigh, Danny shifted in his seat a little to face toward Steve. "Okay, hear me out, and don't start yelling before I've had a chance to say everything."

"I was right," Steve said. "I'm not going to like this."

"Fine, just keep your mouth shut until I'm done."

After a moment, Steve nodded.

"Okay, I was thinking about Lori and her possible crush on you." Steve opened his mouth, and Danny raised a hand. "Ah ah ah! No talking until I am done."

When Steve waved a hand that he should continue, Danny smiled. "Thank you. Anyway, I was thinking about her crush on you. It's possible that it's just a front, an angle she's playing trying to get in close with you to be a better spy for Wo Fat. It's also possible that she really has developed a crush on you. Either way...I think you should play into it."

" _What_?" Steve hit the brake unintentionally, slamming his foot back on the gas pedal when the person behind him laid on the horn. "You want me to _what_?"

"I want you to requite her unrequited love or lust or cover--whatever."

Steve gripped the steering wheel tightly to keep from punching something. "No. No way."

"Steven--"

"No."

"Will you listen to me?" Danny said, his hands flying through the air now, and Steve had to focus on driving to keep from getting distracted. "It's a perfect plan. If she's playing you, then if she thinks she has us where she wants us, it'll make her confident, and if we're lucky, cocky. If she really does have a thing for you," he ignored Steve's groan, "then if she thinks it's returned, she'll be vulnerable. And either way you'll be closer to her and be able to do some recon of your own."

Steve looked for every flaw possible from a strategic standpoint. "It leaves me out there without any backup," he said.

"Oh _now_ you're worried about backup? As if I didn't already know your arguments against this plan were weak."

"Danny...." He didn't know what to say, or rather how to say it. He couldn't just say he didn't want to be with anyone else--that wasn't them. The job was the job, and it was separate from their relationship. But it didn't make it any less true. The thought of spending all his time with Lori, of maybe having to sleep with her instead of Danny, especially now that he and Danny were together, was like lead in his gut.

Danny leaned a little closer. "Look, if this worked, you would have access to her place, you'd have more of a chance to see if you can get her to slip up, or maybe catch phone calls she wouldn't want us to know about. Who knows, she may be so charmed by you that she changes allegiance."

He had a point, as much as Steve hated to admit it. But.... "I don't know if I can make it believable," he said at last.

"What are you talking about, babe? I've seen you charm the pants off a woman you knew was responsible for three murders just to get your angle on her."

Steve pulled up to the light by HQ, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. "I don't like it," he said, looking out his window at the Iolani Palace across the street.

"I don't either," Danny said, "but I like the idea of her spying on us even less, and if we can stop her--better yet, if we can use her to get one step closer to Wo Fat, then we don't have a choice." When Steve didn't respond, Danny put his hand on Steve's thigh. "You know it's a good plan. If it was Kono, you wouldn't hesitate to send her in to flirt with a suspect if it might get us the in we need."

"We could still let Kono grill her."

Danny laughed. "It may come to that, but I think this has a better shot."

Steve pulled away from the light. "It's a long shot," he said, as he turned into the parking lot.

"Just think about it, all right?" Danny caressed Steve's thigh, and the Camaro went a little crooked into the parking space, but Steve didn't care. "If you come up with other options, great. But think about it, okay?"

Steve nodded, switching off the car and dropping his hand down on top of Danny's to give it a squeeze before opening the door. "I'll think about it."

He doubted he'd be able to think about anything else.

***

Chin, Kono and Lori were huddled around the computer table when Steve and Danny walked in. "Sorry," Danny said, "one of our witnesses was a little tough to locate."

Lori looked at Steve, and he steeled himself to keep his face blank. "I thought they were willing to make statements."

"Apparently this one changed his mind."

"Until Steve convinced him otherwise," Danny said, grinning.

"Anything useful?" Lori asked, and for the first time Steve really noticed how she kind of ignored Danny and focused on him.

Steve stepped up to the table beside her, Danny on his other side. "Nothing new. Same story they told HPD. Did we get anything with the blueprints?"

"I think I figured out how they got in," Lori said, tapping the screen a couple of times before the section of blueprints she wanted popped up. "All of the buildings had this same type of shaft from the basement." She pointed at the air duct that ran up from the basement and connected to a labyrinth of other ducts throughout the building.

"Back in the sixties," Chin interjected, "these ducts were larger than they are today, and a little more sturdy. They hold weight better than the newer ones."

"So they'd be more likely to hold the weight of a few burglars crawling through them?" Steve asked.

Chin nodded. "The other thing these buildings have in common is that there are no motion sensors of any kind in the ducts. So someone could move freely through them without being detected unless they came out the wrong duct and into a room with working motion sensors that hadn't been disarmed."

"I scanned the list of people who'd checked out the plans for all three buildings," Lori said, pulling up scans of the signed logs from the Skydrive onto the table, managing to bump her arm against Steve's in the process. "No names correspond with all the buildings, but the handwriting on these three," she said, pointing at three names on three different scans, "is similar enough that I think it's our same person, just using fake names."

"I ran those names," Kono said. "Nobody that looks like they would've been checking out building schematics."

"So can we figure out what other buildings they might've looked at based on the handwriting?"

Lori nodded, tapping on the screen again, her arm brushing against Steve's. He made himself stay still and not move away, despite his instincts. "I looked through the logs from other buildings with similar layouts, and found these three that looked like they might be a match."

"Okay, so we need to check out those buildings, see what might be worth stealing in each of them," Steve said. "Chin, any luck with the radio frequencies?"

Chin nodded. "If we can figure out where they might be trying to hit, I can set up something to scan for the frequency I think they're using. It's not a hundred percent guaranteed, but I think we've got a good chance."

"Can you set up multiple scanners so we can each cover a building?"

"Sure."

"Good. They've hit a building every Saturday morning between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m., so we have," Steve checked his watch, "about 12 hours to get things into place and be covering those three buildings."

Lori put her hand on his arm. "What if I missed a building?"

"I'm sure you were thorough," Steve said, ignoring the itch that made him want to pull his arm back, and the annoyance he could feel radiating from Danny beside him. "Besides, it's the best lead we have. So unless you have another idea...."

At her head shake, he said, "Okay, then. Chin, get to work on those scanners. Kono, get everything we need for multiple stakeouts. Lori, go over the blueprints of the other three buildings and make sure we have an idea where to be looking for the point of entry, just in case we can't pick up their comms." He turned to Danny. "You're with me," he said, stepping away from the table and heading for the doors.

He ignored Lori's "Where are they going," too quiet to have been meant as a question for him as Danny followed him out. Chin and Kono would deal with it.

He and Danny needed to talk.

Only when they were in the Camaro and pulling out onto the street did Danny ask, "What was that?"

"We need to talk," Steve said, gripping the wheel and gunning the engine.

"Okay, so talk."

"Not in the car."

He glanced over and saw Danny's confused face. "But we know it's clean."

"Not a conversation I want to have while I'm driving."

There was a long pause before Danny said, "I'm not sure I like the idea of any conversation that's so bad _you_ refuse to have it while driving."

Steve gave him a grim smile and drove to his house as fast as he could manage. Only once they were inside, standing by the front door, did he consider how to start the conversation. _Might as well be blunt._ He reached into Danny's pocket and pulled out the scrambler, switching it on and dropping it into his own pocket, just in case--they didn't have time to sweep the house again. "I've changed my mind," he said. "I think you were right."

"I'm sorry, did my ears deceive me?" Danny's tone was practically dripping with sarcasm. "Did you just say I was _right_ about something?"

"It happens occasionally," Steve said with a small smile. "Look, I was convinced they were just seeing things, but after that conversation in the bullpen, and a few reviews of past conversations, it's possible Lori is trying to make it seem as if she likes me."

"I think it's more likely that she's trying to get into your pants," Danny said, and he didn't sound particularly happy about it.

Steve took a deep breath. "So here's the question...can you handle it if we do this?"

"Can _I_ handle it? It was _my_ idea."

"I know. But don't think I didn't notice you weren't particularly thrilled with her touching me back there."

"I don't have to be happy about it--she'd be suspicious if I was. You're the one who suddenly has to be happy about it." Danny stepped closer, eyes narrowed, peering up at Steve. "Can you do that?" he asked softly. "Smile at her, kiss her...sleep with her, if it comes to that? Because if you can't, tell me now. I'm not going to let your... _loyalty_ land you in more danger."

Steve swallowed carefully, having difficulty getting his eyes off Danny's mouth. "My _loyalty_?" he said, his voice low. "I think it's up to you to decide if my _loyalty_ is compromised if I end up having to sleep with her."

"Not from this side it's not."

He didn't get how Danny could be so cavalier about it. If the situation had been reversed, Steve might be able to resign himself to it, but he sure as hell couldn't brush it off so casually. "So no issues," Steve said, moving a little closer to Danny, "if I go home with her and stay the night?"

"I'm not saying I like it," Danny said, sounding as if he was discussing the weather, "but if you're asking if I'm going to be pissed at you for it? No."

"So I can do this," Steve said, lifting his hand to Danny's cheek, tilting his head until Steve could capture his lips in a long, deep kiss, "to her," he added, after he was done, his thumb running over Danny's lower lip, "and you're fine with it."

" _Fine_ might be overstating things," Danny muttered, leaning in for another kiss, "but I'll take that over Wo Fat stringing you up in some room and nearly killing you." Another, harder kiss. "Again." He pulled back, his own hands having found their way to Steve's face. "There is nothing I can't deal with if it keeps you safe in the end. Can you get that through your thick skull?"

Steve's hand moved down to Danny's neck, feeling his pulse beat against Steve's palm. "Yeah," he said, though he still had trouble imagining being that rational about it if the situation was reversed. "I just...I don't want her."

"I know, babe," Danny said softly. "But you don't have to. She just has to think you do."

Easier said than done, but he was a SEAL. He'd adapt. Later. Right now he had Danny in his grasp, and Steve wasn't letting go until he'd claimed Danny thoroughly.

If he was going through with this charade, he was damn sure he was going to need something to remember. It might be the only thing he could call up to make any reaction to Lori seem real.

"Steve," Danny mumbled against Steve's lips. "Steve. _Steven_."

Steve stopped, his hands under Danny's shirt, fingertips digging into hot skin. "What?"

"We don't have time."

"We'll make time." Steve kissed him again. "We have to, or I don't know if I can go through with the plan."

Danny stayed tense for another moment, then melted into him, giving up. "Upstairs, then," he said, pushing Steve backwards towards the stairs.

Steve pulled away and grabbed Danny's hand, rushing up the stairs with Danny in tow and all but shoving him onto the bed. He watched Danny bite his lip as Steve tugged his shirt up and over his head, the fire in Danny's eyes making Steve's dick twitch.

He stripped the rest of his clothes and shoes in a hurry and went to work on Danny, who lay there, watching Steve with that same hot look, arching up a little into Steve's touch when his fingers slid over Danny's chest.

When Danny was naked, Steve kneeled on the bed beside him and just stared for a moment. He'd only gotten used to this being his, and now he was going to have to give it up-- _temporarily_ , he reminded himself, but he'd never been good at letting go of anything he thought was rightfully his.

He straddled Danny's thighs and lowered himself down slowly, balancing his weight on his forearms, his hands in Danny's hair. "I'm going to need extra time to fix my hair again when we're done, aren't I?" Danny said with a half-grin.

Steve ducked his head, lips against Danny's ear. "You're going to need time to get your muscles back in order _before_ you can fix your hair by the time I'm done with you."

Danny shivered, his fingers flexing against Steve's back, and Steve nipped at Danny's earlobe before moving lower, gentle tugs at Danny's neck where they wouldn't leave any marks, at least until he got down to Danny's shoulder, where marks would be covered by his shirt.

There he let himself linger, sucking at Danny's collarbone until Danny was grabbing Steve's ass and thrusting up against his stomach. Letting go and looking at the red mark with satisfaction, Steve began working his way down Danny's body, leaving marks that no one could mistake for anything other than ownership. Danny wouldn't be able to take off his shirt in front of anyone for at least a week.

Steve was more than okay with that.

He lingered over one last mark at the juncture of Danny's hip and thigh before dragging his lips across Danny's skin and up his dick. He looked up, watching Danny's face as his dick slipped between Steve's lips and into his mouth, Danny's sharp intake of breath hitting Steve in the gut, making his dick jerk against Danny's leg.

He let Danny's dick go reluctantly, smiling at the annoyed look on Danny's face. "I have something better in mind," Steve said, reaching over to the night stand drawer to get a condom and lube. He dropped them on the bed beside Danny, and carefully moved his knees in between Danny's thighs one at a time, then reached for Danny's knees, hands behind them as he guided Danny's legs up until his feet were flat on the bed.

Picking up the lube, Steve coated his fingers, eyes on Danny's face as he reached behind Danny's balls to push a finger inside. One finger quickly became two, and he could've taken Danny then, but he prolonged it, three fingers inside him, watching Danny slowly coming undone while Steve could still focus on committing it to memory.

His dick was getting demanding, however, so he pulled his fingers out and reached for the condom. Danny stopped his hand before it could get too far, taking the condom out of it. "Look, I know we haven't, uh, talked about this, exactly," he said, his voice low and rough, his eyes trailing down Steve's chest as he spoke, "but can we...not?"

"Not...what?" Steve asked, going still as a statue.

"Use this?" Danny held the condom up between his first and middle fingers. "I'm clean," he said, his eyes darting to Steve's face before going back to looking at Steve's chest.

"Danny, look at me." Danny's eyes roamed as high as Steve's nose, but no further. " _Danny_."

Their eyes met, and Steve saw some of the things he was feeling mirrored there. This plan wasn't as easy for Danny as he was trying to pretend either. "You're sure? I mean, I'm clean, I just...you're sure?"

Danny nodded. "I'm sure."

"Okay." Steve took the condom out of Danny's hand, tossing it at the night stand and not giving a damn if it landed there. He leaned forward, keeping Danny's eyes locked with his until he was so close he couldn't see them clearly anymore. His eyes closed as they kissed, the touch of Danny's lips somehow hotter than ever before.

But they were running out of time, so Steve pushed himself back up to his knees, eyes trained on Danny's once again, and lifted Danny up just enough so Steve could press inside, watching Danny for any sign of pain.

He stopped when he was just inside, needing a moment to deal with how different it felt, nothing but skin, no barriers between them. He'd never felt that before, and nothing could have prepared him for the heat that went through him at the sensation, at touching Danny this way.

He had to move, and it took every bit of self control he had to go slow, to make sure it wasn't hurting. Judging from Danny's reaction, he needn't have bothered; Danny was pushing up, forcing Steve in faster until he was completely inside.

Danny grabbed Steve's head and pulled him down for a kiss before letting him go and gripping Steve's hips, pushing at them, an impatient demand for him to get on with it. Steve grinned against Danny's cheek, mouthing his way back to Danny's lips as he started to thrust in earnest, managing a few more sloppy kisses before he had to raise up a little to get more leverage.

He couldn't stop watching Danny's face, though, eyes completely blissed-out, his teeth digging into his lower lip, making Steve move even faster.

Danny reached for his own dick and Steve stopped him. "No," Steve ground out, even as he kept pushing harder and faster. "Want you inside me when you come."

"Jesus," Danny said, more of a sigh than an actual word. "Fuck...Steve...I...fuck." He grabbed his dick, but held it at the base, licking at his lips as he watched Steve, hips straining up to meet him thrust for thrust. "Come on. You're right there. Come on. Want to feel it."

Steve pushed in hard, a strangled shout stuck in his throat as he came, spilling into Danny, unable to stop the tiny thrusts as aftershocks shuddered through his body. It was always good with Danny, better than with anyone else, but that...that had been a whole new level of good. He wasn't sure he'd ever recover.

He realized he'd collapsed over Danny at some point, and Danny was squirming a little, getting friction against Steve's stomach. That wouldn't do--Steve was damn well getting that experience from the other side.

He pushed himself up onto his knees again, grabbing the lube he'd tossed onto the other side of the bed and coating his own fingers, patience worn too thin to wait for Danny to torture him with his fingers.

Two fingers inside, the burn fading quickly until he was ready, and he spread some of the lube on Danny's dick before pushing himself down on it as quick as he could. And...fuck. Just fuck. If he'd thought it was amazing before, this...he didn't have the words to describe this. He gripped Danny's hips, grounding himself, wishing he had time to recover so he could come all over again, just from this.

Soon, he promised himself. This mission would be over as fast as he could possibly manage, and he and Danny would spend all day doing this over and over again.

Danny was thrusting faster, his eyes mere slits, his fingers digging into Steve's thighs. They'd leave bruises he might have to explain, but he didn't care. He could lie; it wasn't like he didn't get bruised daily in his line of work anyway.

He felt the change in Danny's dick, felt it throb a second before it pulsed, hot and wet inside him, and he wanted to keep this moment forever, to never let it end. He'd never had anything like this before, and the moment it was over, he'd start looking for the signs he'd never have it again.

"Babe," Danny said, softly, and Steve looked down to see his eyes were closed. "I think you broke me."

Steve laughed, and the moment was over. He slowly raised himself off Danny's dick and moved to lie on his side, his body still pressed against Danny's side. "I know the feeling," he said, his fingers tracing random patterns up and down Danny's chest.

He could still feel Danny's come inside him, marking him in ways that no outside marks ever could. He could hold onto that feeling. He could get through this.

Because there was simply no other alternative.

***

They had to move far too soon for Steve's liking, a few lingering kisses and touches before Danny started herding him towards the shower, making sure to take the scrambler with them. They washed each other, but when Steve tried to go further, Danny stopped him. "We can't," he said, and resignation warring with something else on his face, something deeper that gave Steve the strength to comply.

They dried off and got dressed and went down to the kitchen. While Danny got some food together, Steve called the Governor and gave him a brief update on the case, then hung up and called Chin's cell. "You alone?" he asked.

"Kono's just finished prep and I've got the scanners ready," Chin said. "Lori's off following up on a lead. She didn't say what, exactly."

 _Probably reporting back to the Governor or Wo Fat._ "Where did you tell her Danny and I went?"

"To restock the Camaro's arsenal and get dinner."

"We haven't eaten yet. Can you and Kono come out to the house for dinner?"

"Sure. On our way."

He hung up, putting his phone in his pocket. "We should put a tracker on Lori's car," Steve said as he turned back to Danny. "I don't like not knowing where she is."

"If we don't use her car for the stakeout, it'll be free for someone to track it."

"I'll call Kamekona," Steve said. "Toast is too far out to risk it."

Danny nodded and went back to making pasta. Steve called Kamekona and explained what he needed, and the timing, and to keep it completely quiet. After everything, he trusted the man with his life. More importantly, he trusted the man with Danny's life. Because they were both in danger if this was discovered.

Chin and Kono showed up just as Danny was finishing dinner. They grabbed plates and were seated around the dining room table, the scrambler sitting in the middle of it, before Steve filled them in on the plan.

When he was done outlining it, there was an uncomfortable silence as Chin and Kono looked at each other. "But..." Kono started, looking at Chin again before looking between Steve and Danny a few times. "No offense, but we kind of thought you two...I mean, that you were...y'know...."

"What she's trying to say," Chin jumped in, "is that the two of you are about as subtle as skywriting and fireworks, and there's no way in hell we're buying you're not...together."

Steve managed a little laugh, even as part of him was aching at this being how they confessed to their closest friends. "You're not wrong," he said, reaching over and covering Danny's hand with his own. "But that's not going to do either of us any good if Wo Fat manages to kill us."

He felt Danny's hand turn under his to give it a squeeze. "We do what we gotta do," Danny said.

"Well..." Kono looked between the two of them a few more times before shrugging. "Okay then. How can we help?"

Steve filled them in on the plan to track Lori's car--they discussed and discarded the idea of putting a bug in it, too easy to track back to the source, and if she was being even a little careful, she was probably looking for something like that.

When they had discussed all the possible issues--at least the ones they could actually talk about, though he suspected Chin and Kono both still had misgivings about their ability to pull this off--they decided it was time to get back to HQ and focus on tonight's stakeouts.

"Lori and I will go in the truck. Chin and Kono, you take Kono's car. Danny, you're in the Camaro, on the least likely target."

"Steven--"

"No argument." He turned to Danny, not caring if Chin and Kono got the right idea. "This isn't personal. You're the only one without backup. It's the call I'd make for anyone if we were one man short."

After a moment, Danny nodded, and Steve breathed a sigh of relief. "We should probably get going," Danny said.

"We'll head back first," Kono said, standing up, and giving Chin a look when he didn't immediately follow.

Chin stood."Right. Going." He hesitated, some inscrutable communication passing between him and Kono before Chin paused to look at Steve and Danny. "Listen, you know that we're both happy for you, right?"

Steve nodded, inching his chair just a little closer to Danny's. "We appreciate that."

"You're sure you want to go through with this?"

"Want?" Steve replied, before Danny could say anything. "No. Need? Yes." Steve glanced at Danny, then back at Chin. "I'm not willing to let Wo Fat hurt anyone else if I can do anything--and I do mean anything--to stop him. He's done enough. I have an advantage, and I'm going to use it."

Chin nodded. "Then we're with you."

When they were gone, Steve picked up the plates and took them to the sink. He could feel Danny's eyes on him the whole time, but it wasn't until the dishes were almost done that Danny said, "I?"

"Hmm?" Steve asked, frowning over his shoulder at Danny.

"' _I'm_ not going to let him. _I_ have an advantage. _I_ 'm going to use it.'" Danny's chair scraped the floor as he pushed it back before joining Steve at the sink. "The word you're looking for, Steven, is ' _we_.'" He leaned against the counter, arms folded over his chest, eying Steve soberly. "Say ' _we_ ,' Steven."

Steve put the last dish in the drainer and turned off the water. "We?"

"You're not alone in this. No more running off by yourself and doing stupid shit. Right?"

"Right."

Danny sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. "That sounded believable," he muttered. "I think I may have to put a tracker on you."

"Toast already did, remember?"

"Knowing you, you'll just ditch your phone," Danny grumbled. "I should make him Lojack you."

Steve turned around. "While that's not necessarily a bad idea for our entire team," he said, "it's a little late for that now."

"For tonight, maybe," Danny muttered.

"Listen, Danny," Steve said, "when I tell you later that you're taking the soft target, get mad."

"I already did."

Steve shook his head. "Not like I'm protecting you. Pretend we had a fight or something and you think I'm punishing you. If she thinks we're at odds, it'll play better."

"You mean she'll be less likely to go after me if she thinks you're pissed at me."

"I mean it'll be more believable if I start spending more time with her if she thinks we're arguing."

Danny let out a long breath. "Okay," he said, sounding tired. "I hate this."

"Me, too. But it won't be for long." Steve was determined to see to that. He pulled Danny into a hug, letting him go before he could find a reason not to. "Let's go," he said, his hand lingering on Danny's shoulder just long enough to guide him towards the door.

***


	3. Chapter 3

Steve put the binoculars to his eyes for the tenth time in as many minutes, willing the robbers to make a move. He was stuck in the cab of his truck with Lori and her cloying perfume, and it was getting harder to make small talk that sounded like he was anywhere near remotely interested in her.

Still, if the robbers didn't take their time, Kamekona wouldn't be able to put the tracker on her car. So he could wait. And maybe make some progress. "Great analysis of the situation this morning," Steve said, putting the binoculars in his lap and focusing his attention on Lori.

She smiled, and he thought she might be blushing a little, though it was difficult to tell in the low light from the streetlamp. "Thanks," she said with a shrug, ducking her head and looking up at him through her lashes. "Training just kicks in when I look at things like that."

He wondered if that was true, or if it was that the robbers worked for the same people she did and she'd been given inside information to help solidify her standing with 5-0. "Don't sell yourself short," he said. "Training can only take you so far--the rest requires the right kind of instinct."

"Thanks." She glanced at the building they were supposed to be watching, then turned her eyes back to Steve. "I was surprised you sent Danny on his own."

Steve looked out the window, then reminded himself this would work better if he looked her in the eye. "We didn't exactly agree on some things," he said carefully. "I thought he might need some time to think about it."

"What things?"

"It's not important," he said, more quickly, hoping she got the impression that it was over her. "He just needs to consider all the sides of something and I'm sure he'll come around."

"Around to what?"

Steve sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. "It's not important," he said, looking at her. "Lori...are you doing anything tomorrow night?"

"No. Not unless this case drags on."

"Would you like to go to dinner?"

She blinked owlishly at him. "Dinner?"

"Yeah, dinner. You know, restaurant, eat, talk...."

"You mean, like, a date?"

He really didn't want to call it that. "Like that, yeah," he said, swallowing his distaste at the idea.

Her wide smile didn't make it seem as though she suspected anything. "Sure. I'd like that."

"Good." He sat back in his seat, relief warring with his desire not to go through this. "So should I pick you up at seven?"

"Sure."

"Good." He lifted the binoculars again, more excited than usual to see signs that they were about to see some activity. "I think we might have our thieves," Steve said. "Call the others, tell them to get over here now."

He watched the building intently as he heard Lori call Chin and then Danny. "Shouldn't we go in?" she asked, checking her gun.

"Danny's two minutes out, Chin and Kono are three. We wait."

"You're waiting for back up? That's...different."

"It's not like it will take that long," he said.

"Still..."

He heard the speculation in her voice, but he ignored it. A minute later the Camaro pulled up next to them. Danny was barely out of the car when Chin and Kono pulled up beside him.

Steve put the binoculars down and opened the door, giving Danny a smile before Lori got around the side of the truck where she could see, but resisting the urge to touch him. The last thing he needed right now was Lori getting suspicious, not when their plan had just started.

He put all of that out of his head and focused on the mission at hand--catching thieves--and leaving the rest for later.

***

The three thieves they'd caught red handed were in HPD custody, and the team was back at HQ by the time the sun was coming up. Steve managed a tired smile for Lori as she knocked on his office door. "So, still on for tonight?" she asked.

Steve nodded. "Go home and get a little sleep, and then we'll all regroup here, and then...." He shrugged and tried another smile.

She returned the smile before turning and walking away. Her footsteps had faded by the time Danny came in. "Got a second?"

"About three before I head out."

"I'll walk out with you."

Steve got his things and joined Danny at the door, matching his stride out to the parking lot. Only when they were outside and Steve saw Danny's hand go into his pocket where Steve could just make out the outline of the scrambler did Steve risk a quick, quiet, "I'm having dinner with her tonight."

He saw Danny's fist clench in his pocket, but he just nodded. "Good. The sooner it starts..."

"...the sooner it ends. Amen to that."

They reached the truck and the Camaro, and Danny turned to face Steve. "Just...be careful. I'll keep an eye on the GPS, and if you need help...."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

Danny nodded, and Steve found himself automatically reaching out before he realized anyone could be watching and dropped his hand to his side. "I'll call you...after."

"You shouldn't. But...yeah."

"Okay." Steve watched as Danny opens the door to his car and gets in, waving as he drives off. Only when he was out of sight did Steve get into the truck and drive himself home alone.

***

He was a couple of minutes early knocking on Lori's door, but she opened it quickly, dressed in a rather low-cut top and jeans. Her smile seemed genuine, not calculated, but then she was good at lying, or they wouldn't have needed someone 5,000 miles away to point out that she was working for Wo Fat.

They went to a relatively nice restaurant--anything else and she might have thought he wasn't trying to impress her. And he wanted to impress her; _needed_ to impress her, because he needed this to be over, and only by getting her to trust him, to think that he was truly interested was going to get this over with quickly.

Conversation was easy enough--he let her talk, and when she turned questions on him, he deflected and turned the conversation back to her. Her family, her training, her past jobs--anything that might give them any kind of edge on her, all carefully recorded on the small voice recorder in his jacket pocket, the one Toast had assured them would pick up her voice well enough as long as Steve didn't cover it too much.

He only picked at his desert while watching her devour her chocolate mousse. "Is there something wrong with your pie?" she asked, pointing her spoon at his almost untouched plate.

"No. Just thinking of how many miles I'm going to have to run to work it off," he said, not mentioning that the date was making him anything but hungry.

She finished her mousse in three big spoonfuls after that, putting her napkin down. "Sorry, didn't mean to be holding you up."

"No, it's fine," he said, giving her a smile. The waiter had brought the check while they were having dessert, so they were ready to go. She chattered while he drove her home, and he walked her to the door, steeling himself for a goodnight kiss.

He pressed his lips to hers, and her arms came around him as she deepened the kiss, licking at his lips until he opened his mouth. She held him tight and kissed him until he thought he might need a crowbar, but then she let go.

"Thanks for tonight," she said, smiling up at him.

"It was fun. We should do it again."

Apparently he'd managed to make it believable enough, because her smile grew. "You could come in if you want."

"I'd like to," he said, looking for an excuse. "But Chin is supposed to call, and if he figured out I was here...we can't afford to have people talk."

"I understand," she said, nodding. "Next time, maybe?"

"Next time," he promised. And if that was what it took to get this done, then next time it would be. "Good night."

"Good night."

It was an effort to walk slowly as he went back to his truck and drive away as if he wasn't in a hurry. Only when he was back on the main road did he speed up, getting home as fast as he could. He remembered to switch off the recorder as he walked into his house, pulling off his clothes on the way up the stairs and heading straight for the bathroom.

He needed to call Danny, but first he needed to feel clean. He brushed his teeth, trying to obliterate her taste from his mouth before he stepped into the shower, breaking his own three minute rule in favor of getting every bit of her smell off his body. He was so intent on scrubbing his skin that he didn't hear anyone in the house until the shower door slid open.

Steve jumped, letting out a shaky breath when he saw it was Danny standing there in jeans and a t-shirt. "You scared the hell out of me," Steve said.

"Sorry. I was watching the GPS, and when I saw you head home, I came over."

Steve bit his lip, wondering about the possibility of bugs. "I went straight for the shower," he said. "I haven't had a chance to...sweep."

Danny held up the scrambler, green light blinking. "Turned it on before I even got in the door."

"Oh thank God," Steve said, waving in the direction of the sink. "Put it over there." When Danny had put the scrambler down, Steve reached out and hauled him into the shower, clothes and all, shoving the shower door closed behind him.

"Steven," Danny grumbled against Steve's lips between kisses, "I'm fully dressed."

"Right. You should be naked." Steve pulled Danny's soaked shirt over his head and tossed it over the shower door. Danny's jeans presented a little more trouble, wet denim not being the most malleable of material, but he managed to get them, along with Danny's shoes and socks, off and out of the shower.

Danny's hands were covering every inch of Steve's skin they could find, soothing away any memory of Lori's touch. "Neanderthal," he muttered against Steve's shoulder, his lips working their way down Steve's tattoo. "My clothes are soaked now."

"I have a dryer," Steve said, between nibbles of Danny's neck. "By the time I'm done with you they'll have had plenty of time to dry."

"Can't stay," Danny said, lips moving back up Steve's arm. "Not all night."

"I know." He hated it, but he knew. "Just...for a while."

Danny was feeling his way down Steve's back to his ass, and Steve wanted him inside, wanted to be surrounded and filled by Danny until he completely forgot anyone else existed. "Bed," Steve said, pulling the shower door open, trying to get them both out the door without letting go and failing miserably.

"You couldn't have thought of bed before you drenched me?" Danny asked, but he was smiling as he stepped back and out of the shower, grabbing a towel. Instead of drying himself, though, he pulled Steve out and started drying him off carefully, head to toe.

By the time he was done, Steve was so hard he was ready to scream, but he picked up the other towel off the rack and returned the favor, his lips tracing every dried patch of skin he could find.

"Didn't you say something about bed?" Danny said, his fingers digging into Steve's shoulders.

"Right. Bed." Steve grabbed the scrambler and took Danny's hand and pulled him down the hall to the bedroom. The scrambler landed on the nightstand, as Danny landed on the bed. Steve reached into the drawer and found the lube and tossed it on the bed beside Danny before joining him.

He straddled Danny's thighs, letting his hands roam up them to Danny's hips, fingertips sliding up Danny's stomach and chest to his neck before he cupped Danny's face in both hands. "I missed you," Steve said.

Danny's smile made Steve's dick twitch. "I just saw you this afternoon."

"Too long," Steve muttered, leaning in for a long kiss, filling his senses with Danny. He needed more, though, and he sat up, grabbing the lube and preparing himself as fast as he could, his eyes never leaving Danny's. The heat he saw there, the way Danny was gripping Steve's thighs made him feel better about his own need, that he wasn't alone in being almost overwhelmed by it.

He slicked Danny up, hand pumping Danny's cock a few extra times just to watch his teeth sink into his lower lip. He couldn't wait any longer, so he let go, positioning himself over Danny's dick and sliding slowly down. The stretch of Danny filling him was still a rush, even after six weeks together, but this time, feeling his bare skin, no condom between them, it was even better than it had been when Steve had been the one inside Danny.

Steve leaned down for a kiss, the change in angle as Danny thrust in deeper wrenching a groan from Steve's throat. He kissed his way down Danny's neck to his shoulder, taking his time sucking a mark into Danny's skin. The sound Danny made in the back of his throat made Steve's teeth sink into Danny's skin a little harder, and Danny's answering hard thrust had Steve coming long before he was ready.

He was nibbling on Danny's shoulder when he came down, moving along with Danny's frantic thrusts instinctively. He could tell by the way Danny was clutching at Steve's back and the tension in his body that he was close, and Steve raised his head just enough to capture Danny's lips in a kiss. He clenched himself around Danny's dick a little more, just enough that he felt Danny starting to lose it.

Steve lifted his head to watch Danny's face, not wanting to miss a second as Danny arched up into him one last time. He felt the warm stickiness inside, and had to swallow against all the feelings he couldn't quite put into words he thought he might be ready to say, but wasn't sure Danny was ready to hear them. It didn't feel right to say them given their current mission anyway.

It didn't stop him from feeling them, though, and if he held onto Danny a little tighter than usual, long after they'd both caught their breath, Danny didn't comment. He just stroked his hands up and down Steve's back, even after they'd shifted onto their sides, Danny tucked in against Steve's chest.

"We never put my clothes in the dryer," Danny murmured after a while, his lips raising goose bumps as they brushed Steve's skin on the words.

"You have some clothes here," Steve said, hoping Danny didn't pick now to notice that Steve had been actively encouraging Danny's ability to "forget" items of clothing. "They're in a drawer over there," he added, waving towards his dresser.

Danny's hands stilled on Steve's back. "So I have my own drawer now?"

 _Shit._ "Uh...I mean...I just put them in there after I washed them, but...that's all that's in there, so...um..."

He felt Danny's smile curve against his chest, and a little of his tension went away. "I suppose a drawer makes sense," Danny said, his voice _too_ casual not to be intentional. "I wake up here more often than not anyway."

And would continue to do so once this mission was over if Steve had anything to say about it. As far as he was concerned, Danny could have all the drawers. But he kept that to himself for now. "Seems logical," Steve said, doing his best to match Danny's tone.

"But," Danny said, sounding more resigned than casual, "I can't wake up here tomorrow." He raised his head and looked over Steve's shoulder at the clock. "Or, rather, later this morning."

"I know," Steve said, but he couldn't make himself let go just yet. He let his fingertips drift down Danny's back as Danny propped himself up on his elbow, meeting Steve's eyes. "You should go soon. If she tries to track your car and sees it here--"

"I took care of that with Toast's app. As far as GPS is concerned, my car is at my apartment."

Which was enough to tempt Steve to ask Danny to stay, but he knew there was a chance Lori could surprise them. They were risking enough already just by doing this, but he couldn't help himself. He needed this to play out the charade the rest if the time. "I told you you'd make a great spy."

"I wouldn't," Danny said. "I couldn't keep this up. It would drive me crazy."

"Remembering to take all the precautions is tough."

Danny leaned in a little to make sure Steve was paying attention. "I wasn't talking about the precautions."

"Oh, so you were talking about having to sleep in your crappy bed again?"

Danny laughed. "Asshole," he said, still grinning. "You know what I mean."

"I do," Steve said, hesitating before adding, "and me, too."

Apparently that was good enough, because Danny nodded, leaning in for a lingering kiss before pulling out of Steve's embrace entirely. "I have to go."

"I know." Steve rolled onto his back to watch Danny get dressed. When he was all covered up, Danny knelt on the bed for another kiss.

"I'll see you later."

"Yeah." At work. Where they couldn't touch or steal a moment anywhere, and where he'd have to pretend to be interested in Lori.

His sigh didn't go unnoticed. "It'll be over soon," Danny said.

"I know." He'd make sure of it.

"Okay. Later."

One more kiss and Danny was gone. Steve lay there listening to his footsteps fade, the front door close, and the Camaro drive away. He waited all of a minute before he realized he wasn't getting any sleep and got up. Maybe a run would clear his head enough to sleep.

He doubted it, but it was better than tossing and turning and aching for Danny.

***

"So why'd you leave DHS?" Steve asked Lori over their third dinner in as many nights. He knew it was risky, but he figured he had built up enough rapport that she wouldn't find the question odd.

She picked at the pasta still left on her plate. "I didn't like the red tape," she said after a moment, twirling strands of spaghetti around her fork. "It took a year to get approval to buy a stapler." When Steve laughed, she held up her hand. "True story, I swear. I needed a stapler, and the requisition form took a year to process. And the stapler cost sixty dollars."

"How did you keep your documents together in the meantime?"

"I stole the stapler from the requisitions desk."

"I'd hate to think how long it would've taken if you hadn't deprived them," Steve said.

She thought about it for a few seconds. "It did come not long after that, now that I think about it."

"Why Hawaii?" he asked after a moment.

"It was as far away from DC as I could get and still be in the US. Plus I was tired of winters." She wrinkled her nose in a way he assumed was supposed to be cute. "Of course, had I known how much I was going to get beaten up on my new job, I might've stayed in DC."

"There's a simple solution to that," Steve said leaning in. "Don't let the bad guys beat you up. I mean, I've seen your file. You're well-trained. Stop letting them win."

Her eyes narrowed, and he wondered how much of his true feelings had come through in his words. Because now that he thought about it, her file and her claims about her own fighting didn't seem to make sense with how many times she'd been taken out on the job.

Unless she'd been playing the helpless female to get his attention.

Which begged the question of whether she had faked her profiling credentials, or he and Danny were just that good at hiding their feelings. He thought back to Chin, Kono and even Toast. No, he and Danny weren't that good at hiding anything.

"Maybe I could use some help?" Her tone was almost shy, and he wondered if it was an act. "We could spar, and you could teach me a few tricks?”

"Sure," he said, hoping they could wrap this up before he had to spar with her. He was compartmentalizing just fine so far, but he wasn't sure he could restrain his anger at her if he was fighting her.

The waiter interrupted them to ask about desert, and Lori gave Steve a look that had him on instant alert. "I have some dessert back at my place, if you'd rather...."

Even the waiter didn't have any trouble interpreting her tone and just what kind of 'dessert' she was suggesting. He gave Steve a knowing look and said, "Here's your check," as he put it down on the table and walked off.

Lori was beaming as they left the restaurant, pressing against his arm and holding his hand on the walk to his truck. It hit him then, what they were about to do, and he shut down the thoughts before they had a chance to take hold. She might have faked her credentials, or she might actually be a good profiler who was just seeing what she wanted to see, but he couldn't take the chance that she might suddenly see the truth.

They were almost to her apartment when she asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No, why?"

"You haven't said a word since we left the restaurant."

He gave her a smile. "Sorry, I was just thinking."

She didn't appear to be reassured. "You know, if you don't want to come back to my place, you don't have to. There's no rush."

"No, I want to. I do," Steve said, and it was easy to make that sound truthful. Because he wanted to get this over with, and going back to her place was a necessary step towards ending this. The closer he could get to her, the closer he would get to Wo Fat, he was sure of it.

Remembering his mother, his father, Laura Hills, Jenna, Josh and the dozens of others Wo Fat had killed hardened Steve's resolve. They gave her lives. He could certainly do this.

He did his best to look a little sheepish as he said, "It's just...I want this to work. And with 5-0 and the fact that I'm your boss...there's a lot to think about."

"If it helps, you can think of the governor as my boss instead," she teased.

Oh yes, that definitely helped, remembering just what was at stake. "That helps, thanks," he said, easily infusing the sarcasm into his tone.

"Steve..." he glanced at her, uncertainty a new expression for her, "you know if it came down to it, between you and the governor, I'd choose you."

Right, and if it came down to him and Wo Fat? He knew who'd win that one. "Would you?" he asked, letting a little of his skepticism bleed through.

"There'd be no contest."

He studied her face, and found no trace of deceit. Then again, she was an accomplished liar...but if she really had a thing for him, maybe they could turn her and use her to their advantage.

Which made the rest of the night even more critical. Dammit.

By the time they were in her apartment, he was as ready as he could be, his mind on the mission as he followed her to her bedroom and took her in his arms. She was soft and perfumed, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't help comparing her to Danny.

He'd always viewed sex along the same lines as sparring. Exercise, tactics, learning your partner's strengths and weaknesses, only using them toward a mutual goal instead of to take them down. Dominance was still part of it, the same thrill he got from besting an opponent he got from making his partners lose it in bed.

But Danny...he'd changed all that. Sex wasn't an exercise, not with him. It was messy and sometimes uncoordinated, but always perfect, no matter what. Steve wasn't sure he could go back to strategic sex.

Lori pulled out of the kiss to take off her clothes, and he forced his hands to go to his buttons on his shirt. He'd have to go back to strategy; he had no choice. He had been trained to compartmentalize, to distance himself in unpleasant situations. He'd learned to cope with torture; surely he could cope with this.

And he was coping fine as they rolled onto the bed, kissing again. His hands roamed down her body, exploring her the same way she was exploring him. He'd been right; he could do this.

However, the one thing he couldn't do was make himself want her.

His body was refusing to cooperate, despite the friction where his dick was pressed against her thigh. Every time he started to react, the pain that Wo Fat had caused him came back to him in flashes--the car bomb that killed his mother, Laura's car exploding, the shot he'd heard so far away in South Korea, Jenna taking two shots to the chest right in front of his eyes.

Lori had become a constant reminder of everything Wo Fat had done. He was never going to be able to make himself want her. So he'd lose himself in something he did want. Someone he did want.

He remembered the feel of Danny's skin, his body so hard and taught, his chest plastered to Steve's back as Danny fucked him until Steve was ready to scream. He thought of Danny writhing between Steve's legs while Steve fucked himself on Danny's cock, Danny so far gone that his eyes were glazed over and his fingers were randomly clutching at Steve's hips.

That got his body going, and he imagined his fingers were tracing Danny's warm, lightly furred arms instead of the soft, cool skin under his hands. He blocked out Lori's scent and called on his memory of how good Danny smelled, how the skin on his neck tasted salty and real, instead of like lotion and perfume.

He grabbed his pants off the floor and pulled a condom from the pocket and put it on, remembering Danny's face as he'd asked Steve not to use one. When he slipped inside Lori, in his mind he was reliving that first completely bare slide into Danny's body. Nothing else would ever compare to that, and the mere memory got him hotter than anything, sending him over the top quickly.

Lori must have finished , too, as she wasn't moving, under him anymore. She was just clutching at his shoulders and panting against his neck.

When he'd let as much time pass as he could stomach, he rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling for a moment before rolling the rest of the way off the bed. "I should go," he said, pulling on his shirt and buttoning it up. "If we want this to work, we can't let anyone catch on."

He turned around and grabbed his pants from the floor, listening to the sheets rustle as Lori moved. "Are you sure it's anyone you're worried about, or is it just Danny?" she asked.

"He's the most likely to catch on," Steve said, "but I'm worried about anyone." He pulled his pants up and did up the fly. He'd just finished the top button when he heard a sound and felt a sharp sting in the back of his neck.

Then everything went dark.

***


	4. Chapter 4

He came to with the disorienting sensation of motion combined with a sick headache that he automatically recognized as having been tased. Again. He did a quick physical inventory and realized the ache in his shoulders was due to his arms being bound behind his back--zip-tied, if he wasn't mistaken, He was also belted into a car. He looked around to see it was Lori's car, and she was driving.

"Oh, good, you're awake."

"I wouldn't have been asleep if someone hadn't tased me," he said as evenly as he could. He had no idea what he was dealing with, or how to play it, so he didn't want to go for full on anger, but he didn't think she'd buy total confusion, given the circumstances. "Just out of curiosity, do you do that to all your lovers, or am I a special case?"

"As it happens, Steven," she said, and her use of his full name grated on his nerves, "I don't usually taka a taser to my lovers and tie them up."

"So I'm special, then? I'm flattered, really. But you could've just sent me flowers."

Her knuckles went white where she was gripping the steering wheel. "I'm not interested in sending flowers to someone who says someone else's name while he's in bed with me."

Oh. Shit. "I did _what_?"

Lori glanced at him. "I don't know if the fact that you didn't even notice makes it better or worse," she said. "I take it you're used to screaming out Danny's name on a regular basis? Well, outside of when he's being shot at--it's not like anyone could miss that."

So even she'd noticed that. "There is no way I called out Danny's name in bed," Steve said with as much conviction as he could muster.

Lori wasn't buying it, though; she just rolled her eyes at him. "I can see how you might think I'm stupid enough to actually believe that," she said, as calmly as if they were talking about the weather, "but unfortunately for you, that little word was exactly what I needed to open my eyes and clear my head."

He definitely did not like where this was going. "Look, you're emotional, and you think you heard something you didn't. Why don't you untie me and we can talk like adults. We can still salvage this,"

"Oh, we can salvage this, can we? You think we can just talk and you'll convince me that I misheard? Maybe you were saying Fanny? I don't know _why_ you'd be saying Fanny, but hey, I wouldn't have expected you to say Danny, so anything's possible, right?"

Steve was trying to follow, but he was getting a little lost. "What?"

Bon Jovi broke in before she could answer, as Steve's pocket vibrated along with Livin' on a Prayer. "Oh, perfect, he's calling. What, did you set up a date with him after ours? Is that's why you were in such a hurry to leave?"

She reached into Steve's pocket and pulled out the phone, rolling down her window and tossing the phone out before rolling the window back up. "Guess he's not coming to your rescue," she said.

Steve wasn't even sure what to say next. He looked around at his surroundings, guessing they were somewhere near Dillingham Airfield, but in the dark it was hard to be sure. Danny couldn't track his phone, but if the tracker was still on Lori's car he could track that. And if he could get his hand into his pocket, he could turn on his burner phone. But assuming they were up near Dillingham, it was going to take Danny at least half an hour at full speed with sirens blaring.

"You know, I knew something was up with you two," Lori said, hand resting on the gun in her holster, sounding just like she did when she worked through a case. It was kind of creepy, given the circumstances. "When you asked me out it seemed off. And then Danny's been so cranky the last few days, but I just put that down to being annoyed you weren't at his beck and call to listen to his bitching."

Steve flexed his hands, wanting out of the zip ties to smack her, but she'd suddenly learned how to do her job well now that she was about to be so very, very fired. Not to mention arrested. "So if you thought something was off, why did you go out with me?"

"Are you really that dense?" she asked, sparing him a withering glance. "I wanted you so badly I ignored the way it seemed so sudden."

"And your boss was okay with you wanting me so badly it clouded your judgment?"

She glanced at him again before taking a turn into a gravel road. "My boss? You haven't figured out who it is yet? Maybe I'll let you wonder until they get here." She came to a stop by an old airplane hangar Steve thought looked vaguely familiar. "You want to know the really sad thing? If you'd been serious, if you hadn't just been playing me, I'd have totally turned on my boss for you. I'd have handed him to you on a silver platter." She put the car in park and shut it off, turning towards Steve. "But now I'm going to hand you to him on a silver platter instead."

So they'd gone from 'them' to 'him.' at least. He wondered if it was Wo Fat or the Governor coming for him. He knew the Governor was supposed to be at a charity fundraiser tonight, so if it was him, he'd probably have to come all the way from Waikiki.

But Wo Fat could be anywhere.

Which was why Steve was in this mess in the first place. He just had to hope that Wo Fat would want information before killing him--if he didn't know the secret about Shelburne yet, then Steve might survive until Danny could get there.

"And the best part," Lori said after a moment, "the absolute best part is that Danny can have you after all. At least long enough to bury." She tilted her head, looking at Steve as if he was a puzzle, and he wondered if she'd been psychotic for a while now, or tonight's events had driven her over the edge. "Do you think they'll let him claim your remains? Or will they make your sister fly here and do it? I mean, you don't have some sort of secret civil union that I didn't know about, do you?"

"Why don't you stop all the grandstanding," Steve ground out, straining against the zip ties, "and just tell me who you work for?"

"You're so smart...who do you think it is?"

"Wo Fat."

"Freeze!"

Steve's head jerked around towards the door, where Danny stood with his gun trained on Lori. Chin and Kono were behind him, doing the same. "Take your gun out of your holster with two fingers, place it on the ground, and step back." Steve knew that look on Danny's face, and he just hoped Lori did what he asked.

He turned to find her frozen like a rabbit in the headlights for a few seconds. "You're kidding me," she said, at last, but Steve noticed she was being as still as she could, her hands frozen mid-air, where they'd been when Danny had yelled. "What, do you have him Lojacked or something?"

"Don't need to," Danny said, and Steve didn't need to take his eyes off Lori to know Danny was smirking at her. "We had you Lojacked. You never thought to check your car, did you?"

She rolled her eyes, and Steve winced. That was never a good idea where Danny was concerned, not unless you were _trying_ to piss him off. "I didn't think you were smart enough to bother," she said, and Steve mentally checked off another item on the 'How to Piss Danny Williams' off checklist--question his intelligence. Especially in police work.

"Well," Danny said, "looks like we know which one of us is smarter now, don't we? Now, once again, take your gun out of your holster with two fingers, place it on the ground, and step back. Or do I need to use smaller words?"

"There's no need to be rude. It's not like I'm going to be able to shoot him, though, really, if I'd thought it through a little more I'd have found a way to let you watch when I did."

And no one needed a list to know that was a sure-fire way to piss Danny off. "Take your gun out of your holster with two fingers," Danny said, his voice so deadly that even Steve tensed as if he was in danger, "place it on the ground, and step back."

The last two words were spaced out, intonation impossible to mistake, and Steve was starting to wonder if Danny might just shoot her if she didn't comply this time. But she seemed to have come to her senses, and Steve watched as she slowly reached down with two fingers to pick up her gun. He was just taking a relieved breath when she moved suddenly, grabbing for the gun and pulling it out to aim it at them.

Danny, Chin and Kono all fired and Lori dropped like a rag doll. Before the smoke had cleared, Danny was behind Steve, cutting his ties free while Chin and Kono made sure Lori was no longer a threat.

"Are you okay?" Danny asked as Steve pushed himself out of the chair.

"Nothing a little moving around to get circulation back into my arms won't cure." He rubbed at the back of his neck and winced. "And maybe some ice."

"Did she hit you?"

"She tased me. I came to tied in the car and almost here." He walked over to where she lay, a pool of blood forming around her, two bullets center mass and one in the forehead, the size and shape making Steve pretty sure it was from Danny's P30--it wasn't Chin's shotgun, and it looked a little big for Kono's M&P. "I thought cops were trained to always go for center mass," Steve said, turning to Danny.

"Guess I missed," he said with a shrug.

"What a waste," Steve said, looking down at her body again, sad for the lost potential despite the circumstances. "It turns out she was actually pretty good at her job."

"So then why was she so bad at it?"

"Apparently she was trying to attract me."

Danny blinked a few times. "She was trying to impress you by being bad at things?"

"Something like that."

"And this makes her good at her job how, exactly?"

"Well...good at her job as long as I wasn't involved?"

Danny shook his head. "I take it you didn't get anything new on Wo Fat?"

"No," Steve replied, moving away from the body a little, suddenly wanting some distance.

"What happened? Why'd she catch on?"

"Can we talk about that later?" Steve asked, not wanting to have that conversation in front of Chin and Kono, and especially not with the sirens he could hear getting closer indicating they were about to have a much larger audience.

Danny frowned at him, but said, "Okay. EMTs are almost here anyway."

"Danny, I don't need--"

"Shut up. You do not get to argue about getting checked out after I rode in here and saved your ass."

"Speaking of which," Steve said, "how did you get here so fast?"

He wasn't expecting Danny to shuffle his feet and look at the ground in response. "Well," he said after a moment, "I was watching your GPS, _strictly_ to make sure you were okay, _which_ , I might add, may have saved your life."

"Danno...did you miss me so much you had to use my GPS as a substitute?"

"Seriously, you are not funny. Whoever told you that you were funny lied to you."

"Whatever. So you were watching the GPS?"

Danny nodded. "When I saw it on the move , headed out of town, I checked Lori's car and your truck. When I saw your phone was moving with her car and the truck wasn't moving, I didn't like how it was adding up, so I decided to follow in case something went wrong, so I could be close. And, unlike _some_ people I know who run in _without_ backup, I called Kono and Chin, just in case."

"So that call was to see if I needed help or we'd just decided to go for a drive?"

He nodded again. "When the phone went dead and your GPS stopped moving I knew it wasn't good. So I called HPD," he said, waving at the cops who were just starting to set up a perimeter, "just in case, since I didn't know what I was going into."

"Who knew you were so smart?" Steve teased with a nudge of his elbow to Danny's shoulder.

"You did, if you know what's good for you," Danny said, but he was grinning as he said it, so Steve figured he wasn't getting into trouble for that one.

Steve gave Danny a pat on the back. "Yes, you're very smart," he said, letting his hand linger a moment before dropping it. "Speaking of calls," Steve said, turning back to look at Lori, "She must have called her boss while I was unconscious. Maybe we can trace the phone. And whoever it is was supposedly on their way here, though I doubt they'll come within a mile of it once they see the light show outside."

"We can have HPD do a sweep and see if they catch anything."

Steve nodded. "Have them look, and tell them it might be Wo Fat."

"You really think it's him?"

"Either him or the Governor. It'll be easy to find out if the Governor was at the fundraiser all night tonight--there should be plenty of cameras there.”

"Okay, I'll go tell HPD, if you go visit the nice EMT over there," Danny said, guiding Steve towards the ambulance that had just opened its back doors.

"Danny...."

Danny pushed him a little harder towards the ambulance. "Look, it's Katie. You like Katie, remember? She doesn't make you go to the hospital unless you've lost a limb and she doesn't tell you not to drive until you know if it's a concussion, remember?"

"Because she knows better than to try."

"Which is why you like her. Now go see Katie and I will see HPD and then come see if you've behaved yourself."

Steve started walking, but he raised an eyebrow at Danny. "What do I get if I behave?"

"A cookie?"

"Needs to be better than that."

Danny stopped him a few feet from the ambulance and leaned in, his lips almost touching Steve's ear. "There will be no sex until Katie says you're fit for action, so to speak. Is that enough incentive?"

"Katie!" Steve called as he hurried over to the ambulance. "How have you been?"

She seemed surprised, but pleased, that Steve was such a cooperative patient. He sat still while she checked him over and joked with her a little, without a single complaint. When Danny joined them a few minutes later, Katie assured Danny Steve was fine, apart from a few bruises and some muscles that would be sore, but no restricted duty.

"But he should go home now, right?" Danny said.

"Probably a good idea, yeah," Katie said. "But I know better than to try to tell Commander McGarrett anything."

"Just for that, you get to call me Steve."

"Steve, then," she said, showing her dimples. "Are you going to let Danny take you home?" she asked. "Or are you going to make him mad by insisting on staying here until he starts growling at everyone?"

"Just for that," Danny grumbled, "you can call me Detective Williams."

She leaned over and said in a loud stage whisper, "Do you want him to go home, or not?"

"Danny it is, then," he told her brightly. "Ready to go, Steven?"

"But the search--"

"Is being handled, and Duke is coordinating it, and Chin will call us if they even think they've seen a hint of Wo Fat or anyone else who might be involved."

Steve rubbed at his forehead, then winced at the ache in his shoulders. "Okay. Fine." He patted Katie on the shoulder. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

He turned back to Danny. "Let's go."

***

Steve made only a token attempt at trying to get the keys to drive home. His neck stung, his head hurt and his shoulders could use about a three hour massage. He closed his eyes in the passenger seat, which actually had the side effect of Danny not asking questions about how Lori had found him out.

But the story had to come out, and at least if Danny was driving he would be a little distracted and whatever reaction he had might not be as bad. "I screwed up," Steve said when they were getting close to the house, opening his eyes and turning his head to look at Danny.

"What?" Danny glanced at him before turning back to traffic.

"I screwed up." He looked out the window for a few seconds before looking back at Danny. "I had to sleep with her. And I...couldn't...get interested. So I thought about you. And apparently said your name. That's how she figured me out."

He could tell from Danny's smirk that he wasn't mad, but he might be in for some mocking. "So you couldn't get it up unless you thought of me?" he said as he turned into the driveway.

"I couldn't get it up because all I could see was the faces of all the people I cared about that Wo Fat has hurt. Kind of a turn off."

Danny's smirk faded, and he gave Steve a sympathetic look as he turned the car off. "We'll get him," Danny said quietly. "We're cutting off every resource one at a time."

"And he gets new ones just as fast," Steve said, looking out the window.

"Hey." Steve didn't turn. "Hey. Look at me."

Turning his head slowly, Steve met Danny's eyes. "He's always three steps ahead."

"If he was always three steps ahead he wouldn't be hiding underground, forced to bring in new resources left and right because we're taking them all out."

Steve took a deep breath. "Good point."

"We'll get him," Danny said. "Just not tonight. But soon." He opened the car door. "Now come on, there's a whole house there that is much more comfortable than the car."

Steve got out of the Camaro and followed Danny into the house. "I should go get my truck," Steve said around a yawn as he stood at the front door, pausing before closing it.

"HPD is taking care of it," Danny said over his shoulder, on his way into the kitchen. "It'll be at HQ tomorrow."

"Thanks." Steve closed the door, but didn't move, events of the evening catching up with him a little.

Danny poked his head back out of the kitchen. "You want a drink?"

"Just water."

A moment later Danny was at Steve's side, putting a bottle of water into his hand. "Do I need to carry you up the stairs?" Danny teased.

"No." Steve pouted at him and started moving, pushing his way tiredly across the room and up the stairs. He heard the door lock, and the faint beep of the alarm keypad before Danny was behind him on the stairs.

Steve went straight for the bathroom, pulling his clothes off and dropping them just inside the bathroom door. "Are you sure you have the energy for a shower?" Danny asked, following. "As much as I like Katie, I don't particularly want her having to come in here and see you naked because you fell asleep in the shower and hit your head."

"The shower will help my headache," Steve said, a little offended that he knew that from a growing list of experiences. "And besides that, I need a shower." Because he did. Desperately. He'd thought he'd needed one the night she'd kissed him, but that was nothing compared to how he felt right now, like three showers and a ten mile swim wouldn't be enough.

He stepped inside the shower and turned on the water as hot as he could stand, and turned to Danny, who was just watching him. "Are you coming?" Steve asked.

"You mean I get to get undressed first this time?" Danny said, already shucking his clothes.

He was inside the shower in seconds, and Steve wasted no time in pulling Danny into his arms, the press of his skin against Steve's doing as much as the shower to make Steve feel less...contaminated. "I'm sorry," Steve said into Danny's hair.

"For what? Getting yourself kidnapped?"

"No. Well, yes. But for...being with her."

Danny pushed, and Steve relaxed his arms just enough for Danny to be able to look at him. "You don't have anything to be sorry about," he said. "It was the plan, and I agreed with it. There's nothing to talk about or apologize for or feel guilty about, so just stop it."

"Yes, sir," Steve said, smiling down at him.

"Immediately obeying me is a form of apology in the Language of Steve," Danny teased.

"'The Language of Steve'?" He raised an eyebrow. "I have my own language?"

Danny nodded. "You do, and it is often visual and, frankly, somewhat passive aggressive. Lucky for you," Danny added, arms tightening a little around Steve's back, "I'm fluent."

"Lucky me."

"And sarcastic. Did I mention your language is very sarcastic?"

Steve snorted. "While I'll own that one," he said, "sarcasm doesn't always mean I'm not being honest."

"I know that. Fluent, remember?" Danny gave him a little squeeze before slipping out of his arms and grabbing the soap. "I also recognize that droopy-eyed look, and I think we need to get you in bed," he said, running the soap across Steve's chest.

Steve felt tension seeping out of every part of his body as Danny cleaned it, until he was barely standing on his own by the time Danny was done. Danny pushed Steve under the spray to rinse off, then reached around him to turn off the water.

When they were out of the shower, Danny dried Steve off, and it was a sign of just how much the night had taken a toll that Steve wasn't hard. Not that somewhere in his body there wasn't warmth and want poking its head up sleepily, but it wasn't coming out tonight.

He let Danny lead him out of the bathroom and to the bedroom, where they both climbed into bed. Steve pulled Danny in close before the covers were even settled over them wrapping himself around Danny, letting his presence settle the rest of the demons for the night.

He didn't kid himself that he would sleep much, but this would be better for him than sleep anyway. This was all he needed tonight.

***

He woke to streaming sunlight and the house phone ringing on his nightstand and reached behind him to grab it without having to let Danny go. "McGarrett" he mumbled into the receiver.

"Hope I didn't wake you," Chin said.

"It's fine," Steve said, letting go of Danny reluctantly to sit up. "Any word on Wo Fat?" he asked, scrubbing his hand over his face.

"It looks like he's the main suspect for having been Lori's boss," Chin replied. "The Governor was still at the fundraiser when we checked on him, and there's footage and photos of him there the whole time."

Steve sighed. "Doesn't mean he's not somehow involved. He did force her on us."

"We'll check into him, but we have to do it carefully. Kono and I have some ideas when we all have some time to talk later."

"Good."

"We traced the numbers on Lori's phone--she had a burner on her in addition to her regular phone. The burner had calls to another burner, including one after she kidnapped you. We weren’t able to trace the call to anyone, obviously, but we did find the location of the other phone when she called it, and it was on Kauai. It was used a few other times and it never left Kauai, so whoever it was clearly wasn't planning on coming out there, whatever she thought."

Steve thought for a moment. "Probably thought it might be a trap. Wo Fat wouldn't come anywhere near something he thought was a trap. He'd just sacrifice her to us."

"Kauai PD is on the lookout, but if it is Wo Fat..."

"He's good at not being found," Steve finished. "Thanks, Chin."

"Don't mention it. Are you guys coming in?"

While he wanted nothing more than to curl up with Danny for a while, he needed to follow this lead before it dried up. "Yeah, we'll be in soon. You and Kono should get some sleep, though."

"We'll wait and catch you up first."

 "Okay. See you soon."

He hung up and placed the phone back on its base, turning to see Danny blinking up at him. "No sleeping in this morning, huh?"

"The bad guys don't sleep in, Danno, so neither do we," Steve said, sliding back down into the bed to pull Danny into his arms for a kiss anyway.

A few kisses later, Danny dropped his head to Steve's shoulder. "Okay, either we go now, or we're 'sleeping in,'" he said, lifting his head to give Steve a crooked grin.

"As enticing as that particular version of 'sleeping in' is," Steve said, "Chin and Kono aren't going home to sleep until we've come in so they can fill us in, so...."

"So we can't leave our team sleep deprived just so we can have a quickie."

"Something like that, yeah." Steve couldn't resist one more kiss. "Go get some clothes out of your drawer," he said, running a hand through Danny's hair before letting him go. "I think there might even be a couple of shirts in the closet."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "I have closet space, too, now?"

"Maybe an inch or so," Steve said nonchalantly, taking advantage of the need to turn his back to get out of bed to not look at Danny as he said it. He wasn't sure he'd be able to resist the question that had been getting closer and closer to the tip of his tongue, and he wasn't sure Danny was ready to be asked to move in just yet.

He was dressed before he turned back around to find Danny fully dressed himself, but frowning into his drawer. "What's wrong?" Steve asked.

"My favorite socks," Danny said sadly. "I want my favorite socks, and they're not here. They're at my place."

Steve blinked. "Since when do you have a favorite pair of socks?"

"Since I've been sleeping here and most of my clothes aren't. I guess I'll have to bring them here." He frowned harder at the drawer, his face almost comical. "And a few other things," he said, looking up at Steve. "I might need another drawer."

"You could just put all your stuff in half the drawers," Steve said before he could stop himself. "And the closet."

"Is that your way of asking me to move in?" Danny asked.

"Uh...yes?" Steve braced himself, but Danny didn't seem freaked out or annoyed. In fact, he seemed amused. "I mean, you haven't really found a permanent place, and you're over here all the time anyway, and--why are you laughing?"

Danny closed the drawer and crossed the room to pull Steve into his arms. "Because you're a goof. And I can't believe it was favorite socks that finally got you to ask."

"Finally?"

"I told you I was fluent in the Language of Steve, remember? You think the fact that you kept washing my stuff and putting it away here was subtle?"

"Oh." Steve couldn't help his grin any more than he could help leaning in for a kiss.

"Work," Danny muttered, pulling away, but letting his fingers linger on Steve's hips for a few seconds, as if reluctant to let go.

Steve moved away, wanting badly to throw Danny back on the bed and celebrate the fact that he was moving in. At least he thought he was. "So that's a yes, then?" Steve asked.

"Yes."

"Good."

"Don't look at me like that, Steven. _Work_ , remember? You can drag me off to your cave later."

Steve tried to look offended, but he knew he wasn't managing it even before Danny laughed. "Fine. Work."

He pushed past Danny, knowing he'd be right behind. They'd go relieve Chin and Kono, and they'd track the new leads, and then later they'd come home. Together.

He could work with that.

\---

END

**Author's Note:**

> Want to learn more about me and my writing? Visit my page at <http://www.jamiemeadowswrites.com/>


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